2016 Tight End Bryce Dixon committed to run with the Wolfpack back on June 27th, shortly after camping at NC State on June 8th. Dixon and his Green Hope High School Football Team kick off their 2015 season tonight in an away game against Heritage High School in Wake Forest. I reached out to his head coach Kwame Dixon yesterday, who happens to also be Bryce’s father, to get his take on what it’s been like to coach his son.

“It’s been challenging to say the least. Bryce loves football and works really hard. We’re an out-of-county family. I live in Johnston County, but I teach in Wake County. Bryce came into high school without a lot of social support, so he was trying to make his way. That’s difficult for a regular student, even more difficult when your dad is a teacher at the school, and even more difficult when you’re a new student and your dad is a teacher and the head football coach,” said Coach Dixon. “We have a 45-minute commute each day, so Bryce and I spend a lot of time together. That drive presents the opportunity for disagreement and joyous fun-loving times as well. He’s been a joy to coach. We’ve cried together at the end of seasons, laughed together, and even bumped heads, but ultimately we both know that we’re father and son. Coaching is something I do, and football is something he does, but we will always be father and son.”

Coach Dixon talked about the “good” weight that Bryce showed up to NC State camp with this summer, and explained how his newly found size completely changed the way that the Wolfpack coaches saw him.

“The biggest thing has been Bryce’s size. Being a former college coach and player, when I was evaluating him I was concerned about his top end speed. The game is played at a certain speed, and it doesn’t matter how well you catch or block. Bryce has consistently been around a 4.6 guy (40-yard dash), which isn’t the speed that teams are looking for in a wide receiver. His recruitment was lukewarm at best, but he caught a lot of peoples eye when he put on weight,” said Coach Dixon “When he reported to NC State camp at 225, and was just as fast as he had been at 205. They saw that he’s a very talented route runner and you don’t have to teach him how to catch. He’s fast enough to break away from defenders, even more so if he’s working against safeties and linebackers. When he gained that weight it reopened their eyes. Old Dominion had been talking about him playing that position for a long time, that he could a h-back, slot back, wide receiver kind of guy. It wasn’t until after Bryce went to camp, and saw his weight, that NC State then saw him as an H-Back.”

Back in the Spring, Coach Dixon met with NC State offensive coordinator Matt Canada and tight ends coach Eddie Faulkner. As a result, he adopted a lot of the Wolfpack’s schemes, and thinks that his son Bryce will be ahead of the curve when he shows up in Raleigh next season.

“Before NC State even offered Bryce, I went and visited Coach Canada and Coach Faulkner to talk about formations, because I wanted to do things a different way. I actually talked with them in the Spring about the formations that they use and how I could adopt them here at Green Hope,” said Coach Dixon. “In our new formations, Bryce actually will be playing the same position at NC State that he plays in our offense. He will be familiar with what Coach Canada and Coach Faulkner are talking about when he gets there, because we have adopted the same terminology here.”

Bryce Dixon will put his versatility on display tonight, playing on both sides of the ball for the first time as a varsity player. Go support Bryce tonight out at Heritage High School at 7pm.

Football Recruiting

NC State Football Recruiting Update (9/21/23)

Published

4 days ago

September 21, 2023

Matthew Bradham

There’s been a lot of NC State football recruiting info flying around, and the update below won’t cover it all, but it’s my attempt at catching up a bit.

NC State offered 4-Star 2025 Running Back Marquise Henderson (5’11″/172) out of Anderson, South Carolina. Rivals ranks Henderson as the #24 Running Back nationally in the 2025 class, and the #2 overall player in the state of South Carolina. Henderson also holds offers from Georgia Tech, Charlotte, Coastal Carolina, Virginia Tech, Cincinnati, Vanderbilt, Liberty, James Madison, Arizona an UVA. In 2022, Henderson rushed for 1,230 yards and 16 touchdowns, averaging 10.5 yards per carry. He also had 297 receiving yards and 4 touchdown receptions.

3-Star 2024 ATH/LB Justin Rowe out of Asheville, North Carolina, was on an unofficial visit for the VMI game this past Saturday. Rowe holds offers from Michigan, Tennessee, App St, SMU, Missouri, Virginia Tech, Boston College, Duke, ECU, Charlotte, James Madison, Marshall, Liberty, Vanderbilt and NC State. The Wolfpack offered him on June 7th.

On September 14th, NC State Offered Sophomore JUCO Offensive Lineman Markel Bell (6’9″/335) out of Holmes Community College in Goodman, Mississippi. Bell is ranked by 247Sports as the #2 overall player nationally in the Junior College ranks, and the #1 Offensive Lineman. At this point, Bell holds offers from Ole Miss, Mississippi St., Auburn, Arkansas, Houston, Louisville, Miami and others.

2026 Linebacker Anthony Davis, out of Loganville, Georgia, was in attendance for NC State’s game against VMI this past Saturday. Davis already holds offers from Auburn, Georgia Tech, App St., UCF, Arizona St., USF, Liberty and ECU.

2026 4-Star Tight End Kendre Harrison (6’7″/230) took an unofficial visit to NC State this past weekend. Harrison is the #5 overall player nationally in the 2026 class according to 247Sports, and the #1 player in the state of North Carolina (Reidsville High School). The North Carolina standout is the nephew of former NC State basketball player C.C. Harrison. Harrison already holds offers from NC State, Georgia, Wake Forest, Old Dominion, Louisville, Penn St, Oregon, Virginia Tech, UNC, Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas, South Carolina, Texas A&M and Auburn. In 2022, Harrison had 263 yards receiving and 5 touchdowns. On defense, he had 92 tackles, 24 tackles for loss and 9 sacks.

On September 11, NC State offered 4-Star 2025 Wide Receiver C.J. Wiley out of Milton, Georgia. ON3 ranks Wiley as the #191 overall player nationally in his class. He already holds offers from Georgia, Michigan, FSU, Ole Miss, Miami, Nebraska, Michigan St, UCF, Louisville, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Maryland, BYU, Pitt, Texas A&M, Arizona St and others.

Football Recruiting

PI EXCLUSIVE: 4-Star PF David Punch Recaps NC State Official Visit

Published

5 days ago

September 20, 2023

Matthew Bradham

NC State hosted 4-Star 2024 Power Forward David Punch this past weekend on an Official Visit. I was able to catch up with him and get his thoughts.

I included NC State in my Top 7 because of how active they were in recruiting me. They were very consistent.

When I got there, I toured the practice facility and had a photo shoot. Then we watched the team practice on Friday night. Saturday we watched the practice in the arena, and then we toured it. After that we watched the football game, and then we watched film and had dinner at Coach Keatts’ house.

My favorite part of the Official Visit was watching them practice, and hanging out with the players.

The coaches showed me film on previous players at my position, and also showed me their style-of-play, which is mostly transition buckets, which is something I love.

They are very high on my list after the Official Visit.

Check out more about who David Punch is here.

Football Recruiting

NC State Now Has Seven 4-Star Commitments in Their 2024 Class

Published

6 days ago

September 19, 2023

Matthew Bradham

ON3 just updated their rankings, and NC State 2024 Offensive Lineman verbal commitment Tyler West jumped from a 3-Star prospect to a 4-Star prospect. ON3 now ranks West as the #22 Interior Offensive Lineman nationally in the 2024 recruiting class, and the #12 player in the state of North Carolina.

Now the Wolfpack’s 2024 recruiting class has SEVEN 4-star commitments.

OL Tyler West
WR Jimmar Boston
WR Jonathan Paylor
WR Terrell Anderson
ATH Ronnie Royal
QB Cedrick Bailey
CB Asaad Brown

This marks the 4th consecutive recruiting class in which NC State has landed SEVEN 4-Star commitments, and the 6th time it has happened under Dave Doeren.

2024 – 7
2023 – 7
2022 – 7
2021 – 8
2020 – 3
2019 – 7
2018 – 6
2017 – 3
2016 – 2
2015 – 5
2014 – 7
2013 – 2